Pavlov co-sponsors bill calling for federal balanced budget

LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Senate on Thursday passed Senate Bill 306, a measure to officially petition the U.S. Congress to call a constitutional convention for a federal balanced budget amendment (BBA).

“The national debt is a mind-boggling $18.6 trillion — that’s trillion, with a ‘t’ — and is unfortunately all too real. This debt is saddling us and our children with a burden we may not be able to bear,” said Sen. Phil Pavlov, R-St. Clair Township. “It is time to require Congress to balance the budget.”

SB 306 would enter Michigan into an interstate compact to petition Congress to take the necessary steps toward passing a BBA to the U.S. Constitution.

Once 38 states — three-fourths of the state legislatures — join the compact, they will then petition Congress to refer the BBA vote to the states for ratification by a three-fourths vote under Article V of the United States Constitution.

“The national debt amounts to more than $58,000 per every man, woman and child in the U.S.,” Pavlov said. “A balanced budget amendment is the necessary step to force Congress to do what ordinary American families, businesses and local governments, including the Michigan Legislature, do every year — live within their means.”